


Incertitude

by amuk



Category: Baccano!
Genre: Battle, F/M, Falling In Love, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-01-15 18:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1314718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amuk/pseuds/amuk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being a god is useless here. Claire makes his next move as a man instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Incertitude

**Author's Note:**

> Unearthed this old piece on my laptop. While the ending is ergh, I did like most of the piece.

For the first time, he doubts.

 

-x-

 

He is a god—no, not that. Claire doesn’t like that word, ‘god’. Instead, he is the center of this universe, of this dream, and that is a fact he has planned with.

 

He can’t die. He can’t disappear, get hurt, vanish, for when he does this dream will only drift away and another shall take its place.

 

So when Claire moves, when he strikes with firm hands and bathes them red, he acts with supreme confidence.

 

-x-

 

She’s half in shadow—a cloud drifts over the moon, slowly—and he can only make out the alabaster of her skin, the glint of her knife.

 

There are only two things she believes in—the weight of her dagger and the strength of her father. Nothing else can force her to move, no man, promise, or wish.

 

Claire finds himself wondering how much it would take to add to that list. How many promises and what actions would it take for her to find another pillar in her world?

 

He takes a step forward (softly, softly, threading across the tightrope) and she tenses visibly in response. Her slack hand tightens its grip and she crouches slightly.

 

A graceful fighter, he thinks. There is no need to harm her.

 

(And he is the one who moves this world, he should be enough to add to this list, should be enough for her to open her doors to.)

 

“It’s all for your father. You’re a good child.”

 

Confusion and wariness wars on her face and she settles for rising out of her crouch. Still, when he takes another step forward, she flinches. Those words are not enough.

 

Not for the shield, the wall she puts up around her.

 

Not even for a god.

 

Claire smiles now. This is new—a situation where even a god is useless. Then maybe he—no, that’s a thought for tomorrow. The young woman in front of him is today and if he isn’t careful, she will dart out of his grasp.

 

And not even a god can change that.

 

No, his next step requires something more than just a god.

 

Claire makes his next move as a man instead.


End file.
